We started a letter exchange with some British students from Suffolk as a way of building connections during the quarantine. The British students are studying Spanish as a foreign language at their school, and our Small-TALK students are learning English, of course. Our students often lack motivation with extended writing tasks - what better way to encourage them than to provide opportunities for them to write to someone their own age about the things that interest them. Students discussed many topics during the 6 week project: the lockdown measures in their different countries; their favourite music, video games and Netflix series; their plans and dreams for the future; their relationships; the Black Lives Matter movement and Captain Tom raising money for the NHS. Students encountered some cultural differences and learnt to navigate them and find common ground. For example, Nayla in B1 Eso was quite perplexed to learn that her pen pal Hayden has chickens at home, but was happy to hear when one of his sick chickens, Jan, made a miraculous recovery! We hope that the students enjoyed the project as much as we did; we absolutely loved reading their beautifully written stories and anecdotes!